UN Security Council to review implementation of 2015 Iran deal in June

“I hope that, in light of the new regional conditions and Lebanon’s new circumstances, a new chapter of respectful relations between Iran and Lebanon will begin,” Araghchi said at Rafic Hariri Airport.

Araghchi also met with his Lebanese counterpart, Youssef Rajji, and is also scheduled to meet the country’s president, parliament speaker and prime minister during his visit.

Lebanon elected Joseph Aoun as its new president in January 2025 — a figure backed by the United States who is now working to strengthen the army and counterbalance Hezbollah's influence after the Iran-backed militant group was severely weakened by Israel last year in a spate of high-stakes military operations.

Lebanon’s new prime minister, Nawaf Salam, said in late May that "the era of exporting the Iranian revolution is over," adding, "We will not remain silent in the face of weapons outside the control of the state."

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Lebanon’s army has largely disarmed Hezbollah in its southern strongholds — in part with the help of Israeli intelligence.

The country’s new government continues enforcing a fragile ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel, which began last year but has seen both sides alleging scores of breaches from the other.

Araghchi made no mention of these developments in his remarks and instead said that Iran would continue to support Lebanon against Israel, while stressing that this support does not amount to interference in Lebanon’s internal affairs.

“Lebanon’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity are of great importance to us and to the entire region,” he said. “We have supported Lebanon’s sovereignty at all stages, and we will continue to do so against the Zionist regime’s occupation — this is simply the support of a friend for its friends and not an act of interference.”

“No country in the region has the right to interfere in the internal affairs of other regional countries,” he added.

Karim Masoumi, a member of Iran’s parliament, called for regular joint meetings between parliament, the judiciary, and the nuclear negotiating team.

He told ISNA that transparent updates on the progress of negotiations—without revealing sensitive details—would build public trust and reinforce the position of negotiators.

He framed public support as essential to safeguarding national interests while pursuing diplomacy with strength. “National unity means all segments of society share a common goal: the dignity of Iran and the welfare of its people.”

BBC Persian staff members' relatives in Iran are being subjected to arbitrary interrogations, travel bans, passport confiscations and threats of asset seizures, BBC Director-General Tim Davie said in a statement.

“These acts are clearly designed to exploit family ties as a means of coercion,” Davie said, adding Tehran authorities were “pressuring our journalists to abandon their work or return to Iran under false pretences.”

Iranian authorities have targeted its Persian language journalists covering the country over the past decade, the BBC says, prompting the broadcaster to lodge urgent complaints with the UN Human Rights Council in 2018 and again in 2022.

The British public broadcaster is preparing to lodge a new complaint with the UN Human Rights Council Special Procedures, according to its statement on Monday.

In recent years, other journalists from other Persian-language outlets including those from Iran International have reported similar attempts at intimidation.

In May 2025, British authorities arrested and charged three Iranian nationals—Mostafa Sepahvand, Farhad Javadi Manesh, and Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori—under the UK's National Security Act.

They are accused of conducting surveillance and reconnaissance activities targeting Iran International journalists inside the United Kingdom.

The threats against Iran International staff have become a recurrent issue, dating back to 2022 when London's Metropolitan Police revealed plots against staff in London. In 2023, the threats reached a climax with the UK's MI5 saying it could no longer protect the team, forcing a temporary relocation to the US.

In March 2024, Pouria Zeraati, the television host of the "Last Word" program on Iran International, was stabbed by a group of unidentified individuals as he exited his residence in London.

Journalism watchdog Reporters Without Borders said last year that Tehran was carrying out "systematic targeting of journalists reporting on Iran from abroad, in an effort to silence them."

"London, home to major Persian-language broadcasters, has been a hotspot for such attacks because of the large number of Iranian journalists based there," the group added.

US President Donald Trump says his country will not allow Iran to have any uranium enrichment, after an Axios report said a US nuclear deal proposal would allow Tehran to keep enriching uranium temporarily.

“The AUTOPEN should have stopped Iran a long time ago from “enriching.” Under our potential Agreement — WE WILL NOT ALLOW ANY ENRICHMENT OF URANIUM!” he said on Truth Social.

A news website and a newspaper widely seen as the mouthpieces of rival ultra-conservative factions clashed last week over recent controversial comments by the Chief of Staff of Iran’s Armed Forces Mohammad Bagheri.

At issue are his apparent criticism of harsh police tactics and revelation of details about Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's confidential reply to a letter from US President Donald Trump.

“How is it that the Chief of Staff is taking such positions … despite the clear directive of the Leader of the Revolution regarding countering the enemy’s calculations?” ultra-hardline outlet Raja News wrote in an editorial last Thursday.

Quick with a response was rival daily Javan, which is linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a military body officially under Bagheri's command but whose head is chosen by Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

In a harshly worded commentary on Saturday, it accused Raja News of sowing factional discord which hurts national security and does not serve Khamenei.

The dispute is remarkable not just for its tone but for its target: Bagheri is one of Khamenei’s top appointees and widely seen as a stabilizing figure within Iran’s complex military establishment.

What sparked the criticism?

Iran’s ultra-hardliners—sometimes called ‘super revolutionaries’ by rival camps—first took issue with Bagheri in March, when on the occasion of Iranian New Year the Chief of Staff released a video message recorded at the historic ruins of Persepolis.

The super-revolutionaries condemned his choice of venue and outfit on social media: an ancient, pre-Islamic site rather than a religious one, and civilian clothing instead of a uniform—which the activists said signals pacifism rather than resistance.

Then came Bagheri discussing in public Khamenei’s response to Trump’s March 7 letter: that Iran was not pursuing nuclear weapons, sought peace in the region but would not abandon its civilian nuclear program and would negotiate only indirectly with the US.

Raja News criticized him for referring to the Supreme Leader instead of Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

The last instance—which appears to have triggered Raja News to attack Bagheri for past remarks—came on May 25, when Bagheri urged Iran’s law enforcement to adapt to the country’s “highly complex and evolving society.”

“The police command will get nowhere if it tries to deal with it using a harsh approach, batons and daggers,” he said in a speech on a university campus in Tehran.

This was seen as a veiled critique of attempts to revive enforcement of a stalled new hijab law, which has been suspended since last September despite hardliner pressure.

Is this really about Bagheri?

The outlet at the heart of the controversy, Raja News, is linked with the far-right Paydari Party and its allies including former nuclear negotiator and presidential candidate Saeed Jalili.

The camp is known to be in a cold war with another presidential candidate, Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, whose supporters joined the Bagheri fray in favor of the Commander in Chief.

“This radical group is smearing all the country’s officials, including the Leader’s appointees, with flawed arguments and hiding behind the Leader,” posted Nader Alizadeh, a pro-Ghalibaf activist, on X.

Some linked the criticism to Bagheri’s recent report on the helicopter crash that killed President Ebrahim Raisi suggesting it may have contradicted hardliner claims that the crash was a foreign plot.

Others suggested the controversy has more to do with the looming question of succession, reflecting anxieties about post-Khamenei leadership and loyalty within the armed forces.

“Obedience and absolute loyalty of the armed forces to the new Leader chosen by the Assembly of Experts will be crucial,” political analyst Mohammad-Ali Ahangaran posted on X. “This is the crux of the matter.”